The investigation of the effects of the birth type variable on the mother-infant interaction and mother's perception of her the infant

Aim: Designed cross-sectionally, this study was conducted to determine the effects of normal vaginal birth and cesarean birth on mother-infant interaction and mother's perception of her infant. Materials and Method: The universe of the study consisted of 4457 mothers who gave birth in a state hospital in Anatolia and their newborns. On the other hand, the sampling involved 230 mothers who gave birth between 1 October and 31 December 2007 and their newborns. The data of the study were collected at four stages through observations and face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire about informative characteristics of mother and newborn, Mother-Infant Interaction Scale, and Neonatal Perception Inventory. The data of the study were evaluated on a computer (SPSS software package) using percent, mean, standard deviation, t-test, Chi-square test, variance analysis, and advanced Bonferroni test. Results: The mean values of the first and second day contact scores of mother-infant interaction for mothers giving cesarean birth were determined to be 5-7 (%72-53.9), therefore they were found to need more midwives / nurses compared to mothers giving vaginal birth (p <0.05). The difference between negative and positive maternal perceptions of newborns, and birth types was not found statistically significant (p> 0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the first contact time and mothers who perceived their infants positively (p <0.05). Conclusion: As a result of the study, it was determined that mothers who had a cesarean birth needed more support with a significant difference in mother-newborn interaction on first contact and second day contact, and that seeing the baby immediately after the birth was found to increase positive perception